Chapter 892: The Princess Gives Birth

“Hahahaha! Good, good! This one wasn’t a loss. Not a loss at all. We saved face. We really saved face!”

Third Master stood with both hands planted on his hips, laughing smugly.

Before him... the Daoist had already been placed inside a coffin.

The coffin was A’Ming’s bed.

More precisely, it was A’Ming’s most treasured Western-style coffin, one he had used for many years. Every time they moved house in the past, A’Ming always brought it along.

But... who told A’Ming not to be here right now?

For the Residence.

For everyone.

For Fengxin City.

Sacrificing one bed was nothing.

Third Master believed very strongly in A’Ming’s ideological awareness.

Who told that fellow to keep showing off his advancement in front of him?

Of course, Third Master was not doing this purely out of revenge.

The Residence genuinely lacked a great Qi Refiner capable of suppressing the situation right now.

The Blind Man had not recovered to that level, and in any case was not home.

The black-armored man could only be used with extreme caution. Nobody dared release him and truly treat him as one of their own.

As for the one inside Gourd Temple, sometimes he worked and sometimes he did not.

Unreliable.

The Guides of Stars?

For now they were still slaves.

Even if the Residence eventually wanted to promote and absorb some of them, it could not possibly happen this quickly.

And the commotion caused by the Daoist earlier had made one thing extremely clear:

This was not an easy man to deal with.

So his imprisonment had to be arranged properly.

A’Ming slept in his coffin constantly. Even when he was not sleeping, he liked lying inside with Kashir in a second coffin, drinking wine and singing to the moon.

Because of that, this coffin had accumulated a dense aura unique to vampires—dark, cold, and sinister.

That made things convenient.

Prince Pingxi Residence did not lack orthodox talismans whose effectiveness had already been proven. After raiding other states’ treasuries again and again, it was only natural that they would have accumulated plenty.

Of course, “upright” talismans might do almost nothing against an upright Daoist.

But that was not a problem.

Put the Daoist into A’Ming’s coffin.

Paste the orthodox talismans outside.

The righteous aura of the talismans and the sinister vampire aura inside the coffin would clash.

And that clash itself became a seal.

The Daoist trapped inside was locked between them.

In addition, to guarantee absolute safety, silver needles had been inserted from the Daoist’s skull down through his neck and across his body.

Normally, acupuncture through key points could stimulate a person’s potential.

Used in reverse... it could deepen the sealing of one’s own body.

Third Master truly deserved his reputation as an expert in instruments of torture.

Even without ideal conditions, he could create the conditions he needed.

He had arranged the Daoist from head to toe with absolute clarity.

In fact, despite Prince Pingxi Residence’s habit of capturing and imprisoning dangerous people, not once had they suffered the cliché of a prisoner breaking free from his restraints.

Third Master deserved most of the credit for that.

“Come. Bury him. Leave one little hole so he can breathe.”

Siniang had said to bury the intruder here and let him wait until Master returned.

So they were naturally going to bury him.

Several Brocade-Clad Guards immediately lifted the coffin, lowered it into the deep pit prepared earlier, and began filling the hole.

As for “interrogation”... there was no hurry at all.

The most important matter now was the Princess giving birth.

Master’s first biological child.

Everything else could wait.

Even if an imperial decree arrived, it could be set aside unopened until this matter was finished.

After everything was arranged, Xue San sent someone to report back to Siniang.

...

“Good. I understand.”

Siniang reclined in a chair, eyes half closed, and beckoned Madam Ke closer.

“Madam.”

Madam Ke stepped forward and waited respectfully for orders.

Siniang hesitated for a moment.

Then she said:

“Ruqing.”

“Elder Sister, this little sister is here.”

Liu Ruqing, who had been brewing tea, immediately rose and stood obediently before her.

The women in the rear household could each display her charms before the Prince.

Before Siniang... they behaved with perfect discipline.

Even the Princess, whose belly was already enormous and who might give birth at any moment, still behaved cautiously before Siniang.

“Take some of the precious medicinal herbs and tonics from the storeroom. Prepare another box of pastries too. Send them to Gourd Temple outside the city.”

“Yes, Elder Sister. This little sister will go immediately.”

Madam Ke might be the senior woman managing the inner household, but she was not one of the Prince’s women.

Liu Ruqing, though only a concubine, possessed enough standing to represent the face of Prince Pingxi Residence.

Siniang added:

“If they’re willing to come sit at the Residence for a while, bring them back with you. Liqing is about to give birth. Having someone pray for blessings wouldn’t hurt.”

“Yes. This little sister understands.”

Liu Ruqing personally chose the gifts from the storeroom.

Accompanied by Xiao Yibo, she took a carriage to Gourd Temple.

After she left, Siniang stretched lightly and had someone check on the Princess.

When she heard the Princess was still sleeping soundly, she smiled and returned to the main room herself.

Among common women of the present age, even those with swollen bellies still had to labor for the livelihood of their households.

Strictly speaking, Siniang was not as far along as Xiong Liqing.

And with her physical constitution, continuing to work as normal should have caused no problem whatsoever.

But although Siniang felt little toward men in this world, and even toward Master he was merely the one man she did not dislike... that did not mean she felt equally indifferent toward the child growing in her belly.

It had, after all, grown inside her own body.

The sensation was naturally different.

Back when the Prince had still been home, he often urged Siniang to work less and spend more time lying down and resting.

She ignored him.

Now, for the sake of the child...

Siniang deliberately made sure she slept enough.

Unfortunately... this particular sleep was not peaceful.

In the latter half of the night, Madam Ke rushed anxiously toward Siniang’s main room.

She had only just raised one hand to knock when the door opened by itself.

“Madam, Second Madam is going into labor!”

...

The Princess was carried into the delivery room that had been prepared and “sterilized” in advance.

Three of Fengxin City’s most experienced midwives had been waiting there for a long time.

Outside, the maids followed their assigned duties.

Some boiled water.

Some scalded cloth.

Some prepared ginseng soup.

Everything proceeded in orderly sequence.

Perhaps because they had rehearsed the process too many times, when the moment truly arrived, nobody felt overwhelming panic.

They simply fell into habit and performed their tasks.

Xue San slid down from the courtyard wall and landed directly atop the great green python.

“Go back. Don’t go inside. You’ll frighten the people in there.”

The green python turned its head and looked at Xue San.

Seeing the absolute resolve in Third Master’s eyes and understanding there was no room for negotiation, it shook its head.

Three scales tinged with faint golden light dropped from between its eyes.

“I know you mean well, but what the hell good is stopping blood right now? The child isn’t even out yet!”

Third Master cursed the python for a while.

Then he bent down and picked up the three scales anyway.

The green python immediately slithered away.

The “monsters” kept by Prince Pingxi Residence were actually all quite afraid of this dwarf Third Master.

After all... how could these demonic beasts possibly escape the same kind of treatment Pixiu had enjoyed years ago?

Third Master smacked his lips and entered the separate room prepared for him beside the delivery chamber.

Inside, maids had already boiled hot water and lit the fire.

The room carried a strong smell of alcohol.

Perfume was one of Prince Pingxi Residence’s famous industries.

Its distillation techniques had matured long ago.

Third Master laid out his complete set of tools and began the final sterilization.

He had only just finished with the work in his hands when he sensed something wrong.

He quickly arranged his tools and rushed from the room while cursing.

As he ran, however... the volume of his cursing gradually dropped.

When he reached the artificial hill, Third Master shouted down the passage:

“Old Master, don’t worry. Don’t worry. Nothing’s wrong. Nothing’s wrong at all. You just lie there peacefully. Once the child is born, we’ll bring the little one down to visit you.”

Deep inside the passage, a figure slowly turned around and returned to his coffin.

Xue San sighed.

Years ago, Master had kowtowed those several times while thinking it was only a few kowtows.

In exchange, he had gained a bond of incense offerings and blood sacrifice.

Now this man genuinely behaved like a grandfather, deeply concerned about the direct-line “grandchild” about to be born.

Tian Tian was only an adopted grandson.

This one actually carried blood kinship.

So yes.

Burning incense at Qingming and setting out offerings while asking the ancestors for protection genuinely worked.

If it seemed not to work... that only meant your ancestors had not climbed high enough in rank.

After calming Sha Tuo Queshi, Third Master rushed back to continue his work.

By then, the Mad Monk had already arrived.

He had left the unconscious young monk behind at Gourd Temple and followed Liu Ruqing back to Prince Pingxi Residence to “sit for a while.”

Now he sat upright alone in a corner, softly tapping a wooden fish while chanting sutras.

Siniang had sent Liu Ruqing to visit him to acknowledge the debt of feeling from the earlier manifestation of the “true Buddha.”

Inviting him into the Residence for the birth was an even clearer signal that she regarded him as one of their own.

When it came to dealing with people, Siniang never left such things unfinished.

Viewed from another angle, nearly all of Prince Pingxi Residence’s external relationships were actually maintained under Siniang’s direction.

There were many local officials and generals whose names the Prince himself had scarcely heard, whose faces he could not recall at all.

Yet outside... they all firmly believed themselves to be people of Prince Pingxi Residence.

The Mad Monk’s tapping of the wooden fish was not useless either.

It genuinely helped calm the atmosphere.

At present, that was the only thing he could do.

“AHHHHHHH!”

Xiong Liqing’s scream came from inside.

The delivery had begun.

Xue San stood outside his little room and watched the delivery chamber opposite him.

Maids moved in and out constantly, carrying all kinds of things.

The busy scene made Third Master feel strangely unreal.

When the Sword Saint’s wife gave birth, Xue San had also sat atop a courtyard wall waiting.

But the feeling then had been completely different.

This was Master’s child.

The Demon Kings often had no particular taboos in the ordinary moral sense.

Talking about some neat bottom line was therefore meaningless.

But they were not monsters devoted to evil from morning until night either.

They had their own understanding of the world.

Their own warmth.

Everyone had come into this world together.

Step by step.

From suspicion to trust.

Then back to suspicion.

Then trust again.

Playing.

Making trouble.

Each living in this world in his own preferred way.

And somehow... without anyone realizing it...

Master was already about to have a child.

A smile appeared at the corner of Third Master’s mouth.

Then he saw Siniang approaching with Madam Ke.

When he looked at Siniang’s swollen belly... his smile grew even wider.

The child inside Siniang... was the common “root” and “belonging” of all the Demon Kings in this world.

Perhaps because she could hear Xiong Liqing’s cries from the delivery room, a trace of gloom had settled between Siniang’s brows.

Then she entered and found Xue San standing there grinning like some perverted idiot.

She immediately glared at him.

Xue San licked his lips and shifted his gaze away.

Siniang walked directly into the delivery room.

There were three places in this world where rules were especially strict: the imperial palace, the army, and the delivery room.

But obviously, when Siniang entered, not one of the three highly respected and experienced midwives of Fengxin City dared say a word.

A maid carried over a chair.

Siniang sat down behind a hanging curtain.

Eastern Jin’s military physicians had originally been trained under Siniang.

Having her personally preside over the delivery naturally produced an excellent stabilizing effect.

Then... exactly as feared... something went wrong.

All three midwives possessed deep experience.

Yet as time continued passing, the signs of obstructed labor became unmistakable.

One midwife came over to report to Siniang.

“Continue.”

“Yes, Madam.”

As the delivery continued to go badly, unease began appearing on the faces of everyone inside and outside.

The Mad Monk’s wooden fish grew louder.

Xue San openly entered the delivery room carrying his box of instruments.

He might be a dwarf.

But he was still a man.

Under circumstances like these, however... worrying about divisions between men and women was meaningless.

Perhaps in some other wealthy household, even if the mother died, they still would not allow something considered this damaging to her reputation.

Prince Pingxi Residence worked the opposite way.

Behind the curtain, Xue San began laying out his tools.

He would be responsible for the Caesarean section if necessary.

Siniang would naturally handle the suturing afterward.

The conditions might be crude compared with what they remembered.

But for the two of them, performing a delivery operation was not especially difficult.

The problem... was that matters were not that simple.

One of the midwives had just fed the Princess another bowl of ginseng soup.

A woman in labor drank ginseng soup to raise her qi and strength, allowing her to grit her teeth and fight through this battle beside the gates of death.

But after drinking the ginseng soup and several other short-acting tonics, the Princess’s spirit and strength continued declining.

There was no sign of recovery at all.

“Madam! Madam, you have to push! Push! Hold on! Hold on!”

“Madam, one more effort! One more!”

The midwives assumed the Princess’s constitution was too weak.

Or perhaps that, having been raised in luxury, she simply could not summon enough ferocity at a moment like this.

But that was not the truth.

Siniang and Xue San stood behind the curtain.

Siniang said:

“The child doesn’t want to come out.”

Xue San clenched his teeth.

The two surgical knives in his hands clicked against each other.

“How can this child behave like that?”

Siniang shook her head.

“It isn’t the child’s conscious intention. When a person sleeps, he still breathes. If he gets hot, he kicks away the blanket. If he gets cold, he pulls it back over himself. The child still doesn’t possess conscious awareness. It is only instinctively trying to absorb more nourishment before leaving the mother. How irritating. This should have been my hurdle. Instead, I’ll probably be fine, and somehow it landed on Liqing.”

According to the Demon Kings’ original theory of “reproductive isolation,” not only should conception have been difficult, childbirth should have been even harder.

But the conception problem had already been explained.

As for delivery, with Master dragging down the bloodline and lowering the score, the danger on Siniang’s side no longer looked especially serious.

Yet the Princess’s child had somehow undergone atavism.

Its Fire Phoenix blood was purer from birth.

Had the Princess been giving birth inside the Chu imperial palace, or within the Qu Clan, everyone attending the birth would probably have gone mad with joy upon learning the news.

The Fire Phoenix bloodline had always symbolized the identity of Great Chu’s Xiong imperial house.

Its origins could be traced to an age even earlier than the Three Marquises Opening the Frontiers.

For an imperial clan or great noble house, the strength of the direct descendants’ inherited bloodline was extremely important.

By comparison... whether the pregnant mother survived or not no longer mattered much.

She had completed her mission.

But Prince Pingxi Residence had little need for some supposed “spirit child.”

First, Master himself was rather traditional in that respect.

More precisely, Zheng Fan himself had never possessed any grand ambition that his son must become a dragon or his daughter a phoenix.

As long as the child was his... he would already be satisfied.

Second... the Residence already had Tian Tian.

And once Siniang’s unborn child was added to the equation... the words “spirit child” had already become somewhat numbing.

No matter how precious something might be... once you had enough of it, it no longer felt especially rare.

Thus, a Fire Phoenix spirit child whose birth would have caused an entire great clan to celebrate wildly was receiving nothing but intense disgust from Prince Pingxi Residence now that the labor had become dangerous.

Xue San said worriedly:

“The problem doesn’t seem to be whether we perform a Caesarean anymore. The child and mother are bound together. With this kind of special bloodline, the connection is no longer something visible like the umbilical cord. Their essence, qi, and spirit are entangled. Removing the child is easy. But the instant it leaves the mother, it may drain every remaining trace of Fire Phoenix blood from the Princess’s body into itself.”

Put simply... the problem had ceased being physical.

It had risen to the level of magic.

Siniang naturally understood that very well.

She said directly:

“The bottom line is that Master cannot return home and learn he has a child but the child’s mother is dead. If that happens, all of us will have to avoid mentioning the mother in front of the child for years. It would seriously damage the atmosphere of the household.”

To an outsider... this reasoning would sound absurd.

Third Master heard it and nodded with deep agreement.

However... he still cautiously said:

“But as you said, the child is innocent.”

The child did not intend to kill its own mother.

It had no awareness yet.

It was sleeping.

Everything happening was only the instinct of the bloodline.

Siniang answered:

“There are plenty of innocent people in this world.”

Then...

Siniang lifted the curtain and walked inside.

The Princess lay on the bed.

Her face was pale.

Cold sweat soaked her body.

She struggled with everything she had, but she could not stop her strength from draining away.

When she saw Siniang enter, the Princess who had once, more than once, compared Qu Peiluo and Zheng Fan as though selecting the better man reacted now entirely from maternal instinct.

“Elder Sister, save my child! Save my child! Please, Elder Sister! Please!”

The Princess understood the abilities of these gentlemen in the household.

Even more... she understood the capabilities of this Elder Sister before her.

All the hopes.

All the calculations.

All the schemes.

All the countless thoughts that had once occupied her mind... none mattered now.

She was a mother.

She was intelligent.

She clearly understood her present condition.

And she made her choice.

She wanted her child to enter the world safely.

The past could not be concealed.

The future could not be predicted.

But at least one thing could be known with certainty: the feeling in this moment was sincere.

Pure.

Without the slightest stain.

The Princess wanted the child saved.

Siniang did not hesitate.

She shook her head directly.

“You have to live.”

The Princess’s eyes widened.

Siniang did not look at her again.

Instead, she stared at the Princess’s belly.

Her voice turned vicious.

“Little beast, listen carefully. Your mother is ten times, a hundred times more important than you. Since you refuse to come out... then you can die.”

The words were utterly merciless.

The child was “sleeping.”

It could not perceive its mother’s danger.

Its bloodline operated purely by instinct, trying before birth to accumulate as much as possible in preparation for whatever dangers might await after entering the world.

This was, in truth... an instinct belonging to divine beasts.

It was the advantage of a bloodline.

And at the same time... the sin of a bloodline.

Why had humanity multiplied without end while so-called divine beasts, such as Great Yan’s Pixiu, could only rely upon cultivation by the Beast Directorate to produce a handful of pure-blooded offspring?

Because instinct existed to survive.

Everything instinct did was meant to help life survive better.

But the moment instinct sensed that it would die... “survive better” became the second priority.

The first priority became simply: survive.

Even if there was no “better.”

The instinct inside the womb sensed that Siniang, this terrifying woman whose aura overwhelmed it, was not making an empty threat.

She was stating fact.

The purer something was, the closer to essence it became, the harder it was to deceive.

And Siniang had not been bluffing in the first place.

She meant every word.

A silver needle had already risen in her hand.

She was prepared to send the fetus in the womb directly away.

The next instant... all three midwives widened their eyes.

In their many years of delivering children, none had ever witnessed anything like this.

The mother was already exhausted.

The mother was not even pushing together with them.

A moment earlier, there had barely been any progress at all.

Yet now... the child... suddenly... without warning... almost proactively... came out by itself.

[End of Chapter 892]